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(No Model.) 5 Sheets-Sheet l.

y L. M. FOSTER.

RAILWAY GATE.

Patented Apr. 3, 1888.

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(No Model.)

5 Sheets-Sheet 2. L. M. FOSTER.

RAILWAY GATE.

5 Sheets- Sheet 3.

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(No Model.)

` L. M. FOSTER.,

RAILWAY GATE.

Patented Apr, 3, 1888.

N, PETERS. PnewLnhngmvmr, washmgmn. n.6.

5 Sheets-Sheet 4.

(No Model.)

L. M. FSTER.

RAILWAY GATE.

PatentedApr. 3, 1888.

5 Sheets--Sheet 5.

(No Model.)

L. M. FOSTER.

RAILWAY GATE.

. No. 380,319.' Patented Apr. 3, 1888;'

UNrrEn STATES PATENT LUCIAN M. FOSTER, OF BRUNSXVIOK, NEV YORK, ASSIGNOR TO SAMUEL FOSTER, OF SAME PLAOE.

nAlLwAY-GATE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 380,319, dated April 3, 1888.

Application filed February 25, 1887. Serial No. 228.887. (No model.)

.To all whom, it may concern.-

Be it known that I, Lucian M. FOSTER, a resident of Brunswick, in the county of Rensselaer and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Railway-Gates; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, that will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to the letters of reference marked thereon, which form a part of this specification.

Similar letters refer to similar parts in the several igures therein.

My invention relates to improvements in railway-gates; audit consists of the novel construction and combination of parts, hereinafter described, and pointed out in the claim.

The objects of the invention are made to appear in connection with the following description.. Figure 1 of the drawings is a view in perspective of my improved gates connected by overhead cables in a closed or horizontal position. Fig. 2 is a side elevation of my gate, showing the gate-beam pivoted upon a fixed support and balanced in a position about midway between the horizontal and vertical positions shown by dotted lines. Fig. 3 is a modified forni of arrangement in whiclrmy improved gates are adapted to railway-crossings, the gates being connected by subway or underground cables. Fig. et is a side elevation of one of a series of gates provided with superway connections. Fig. 5 is an enlarged View, in side elevation, of ajointed latch holding a gate in vertical position. Fig. 6 is a similar View showing the gate released and in horizontal position. Fig. 7 is a side elevation of one of a series of gates provided with subway connections, and showing a section of subway cable-conduit. Fig. 8 is a cross-sectional view of a subway cable-inclosing conduit. Fig. 9 is a vertical section, taken on the broken line x a; in Fig. 7. Fig. 10 is a top plan view of the closed gatel in a horizontal position with the top or" the supporting-post cnt off. Figs. 11 and 12 are respectively side and end elevations of a cablesupporting sheave on enlarged scale. Fig. 13 is a central vertical section of post cap and inclosed pulleys on enlarged scale. Fig. 14 is an edge View ofa cable pulley and guide employed within the cable-conduit. Fig. 15 is a view ou an enlarged scale, partly in plan and partly in horizontal section, of a portion of the subway cable-conduit.

The beam A, which constitutes my gate, 1s pivoted near one end,on one side of and below the longitudinal central line of gravity of the beam,upon a fixed support, as arm b, secured 6o to post B, the short end of the beam measuring from its pivot A4 being weighted, so that the two ends of the beam will balance each other and rest in unstable equilibrium when the general line of direction of the longer end of the beam is about midway between a vertlcal and a horizontal line. This will be readily understood from an inspection of Fig. 2. The weight llf, attached to the short end of the beam, is suflicient to balance the long end of 7o ofthe beam in the position shown by the solid lines. The black dots 1, 2, and Sindicato, approximately, the center of gravity of the short end of the gate, 1 being its position when the beam is horizontal, 3 its position when verti- 75 cal, and 2 its position when at au angle of fortyve degrees; and in the same manner the dots 4, 5, and 6 respectively indicate the approximate positions of the center of gravity ot the long end of the beam when its position is hori- 8o zontal, angular, and vertical. lt is apparent that the pivot A* is on the lower side of a straight linejoining the points 2 and 5.

Should power be applied to give the beam an initiatory revolnble movement in either 1- 85 rection upon its pivot, it would continue 1n the initial direction for half a revolution or more to a position of stable equilibrium, unless arrested in its course by some fixed stop. v This is caused by the location of the pivot be- 9:1 low the longitudinal central line of gravity ot the beam. Theleverage of the points 2 and 5 is the distance measured on a horizontal line drawn through the pivot from the pivot to the points of intersection with said horizontal of vertical lines, passing through said points respectively.

If the beam is revolved to the vertical position shown by dotted lines, the leverage of the point 5, which moves to 6, wholly disappears, roo as the point would be in the vertical line passing through the pivot, while the leverage of the point 2, which moves to 3, remains onehalf or more of what it was before the movement began. On the other hand, if the beam is revolved in the opposite direction to the 5 horizontal position shown by dotted lines, point 2 moves to point 1, and 5 to 4, from which it will be seen that the leverage of the short end remains about the same, while that ofthe long end has been increased by the dis- [o tance from 4 tothe vertical broken line passing down from 5. IVhen the beam is placed in the horizontal position, it forms a closed gate, which can be opened by throwing the beam up to a vertical position.

From the foregoing explanation it is evident that if the gate beA revolved from a vertical position through more than half the quadrant between a vertical and a horizontal, it will be carried by gravity through the remaining distance to a horizontal position. Per contra, if

the gate is lifted from a horizontal position and revolved through more than half the quadrant, it will be carried by gravity through the remaining distance to a vertical position. A plurality of gates can thus be easily operated successively by hand, it only being necessary to give each gate sufficient initial velocity to carry it past the angle of `forty-five degrecs.

In Figs. l and 3 I have shown a method of uniting a plurality of gates by cords or cables in such a manner that if any one of the gates is opened or closed all the others will be automatically opened or closed, as the case may be. The gates are shown closed, and include a pair on opposite sides of a railway track or tracks, adapted while closed to cut off the ap proaches thereto on both sides of the track. The cable marked 2 is secured at one end to the 4o short end of the gate A and passes thence over a pulley, I?, on top of the gate-supporting post, thence across the track to and over apulley, P,

on post B', and down to the long end of gate A',

to which the other end of the cable is secured.

The cable marked 3 is secured at one end to cable 2, and, passing over a pulley, P', (shown by dotted lines on post 13,) and thence over a similar pulley on post B3, is secured at the other end tothe cable 7, or to the long end of 5o gate A3. The cable marked 4 connects in a similar'manner the short end of gate A3 with the long end of gate A2. The cable marked 5 connects the short end of gate A with the long end of gate A. Cable connects thelong end of gate A with the short end of gate A2, and cable 7 connects the short end of gate A2 with the long end of gate A3. When thegates are thus connected, if one gate is opened all the others will be automatically opened. For 6o example, if gate A is thrown open by revolving the beam to avertical position-such as shown in Fig. 4-the short end of the gate is depressed, which exerts sufficient tensional force through cable 2 to lift gate A above the angle of forty-five degrees,whereupon it passes through the remaining distance by reason of the overbalancing weight upon the short end,

as before explained. Cable 2 at the same time acts through cable 3 upon cable 7 to lift the gate A3, and the short end of the latter acts through cable 4 to lift gate A2. If any one of the gates is closed, the others will be automatically closed. For example, closing gate A exerts sufcient tensional force through cable 5. to close gate A.

The gate A acts through cables 2, 6, and 7 to close gate A2, while the latter acts through cable 4 to close gate A3.

To hold the gates open and locked in a vertical position against the tendency of high winds to close them, I make use of a latch, a, pivoted upon the gate' at one end, the other end being connected with the system of cables, the latch being provided with an intermediate notch, a', adapted to engage with a stop secured to the post, as guide a2,in which the latchforce the gate from a vertical position by an upward pull upon the cable 2, sufficient slack being given chain D to permit of lifting the latch out of engagement with its stop to unlock it.

The latch and chain together must Vbe of sufficient weight to overcome the resistance of the cable, whereby the latch is caused to dropinto engagement with its stop after the gate has fallen open or into a vertical position.

The stop E', secured to the post and connected with the end of the gate bythe spring E, holds the gate from passing a vertical position and prevents it from striking a blow when opened.

' The legs m rest upon the ground and support the gate when closed.

The latch a may be jointed, as shown at a3 in Figs. 5 and 6, in which case the arm a acts in the nature of a strut or post, by which the desired leverage is secured for the cable in moving the gate, while the jointed latch a3 is provided with the notch a', and at its cableengaging end with a slot, a5, forming a slideway for the pin a, secured to the arm a6. By pulling upon the cable2 a slight upward movement is given the jointed latch, unlocking said latch,which slides on the pin a4 until the lower IOO IIO

end of the slot a5 comes in contact with the pin, after which the latch and arm a6 movetogether as a single arm to close the gate. This arrangement does not require so much slack in the chain D to close the gates.

When the gates are closed, as shown in Fig. 1, it will be observed that the chainD is quite slack, and in opening the gates the first gate is raised a considerable distance before the latch is projected back sufficiently to take up the slack. The first gate is therefore nearly balanced before thesecond and third are acted upon and overbalanced before the fourth is acted upon. The second and third become overbalanced before the fourth is balanced, and therefore aid or wholly effect the movements of the latter afterits initial movement. By this system of slack cables I am thus able, by opening and closing the gates successively,

to accomplish the result with much less effort than would be required if the movements of all the gates were coincident in time. By'having all the cables loosely connected there is less friction upon the pulleys, which is of no little importance, for the reason, among others, that the cables used to open the gates run idle over the pulleys While the gates are being closed, and those used to close the gates run idle over the pulleys while the gates are being opened, and taut cables, though idle, would produce as much frictional resistance as the working cables do. The posts are also likely to be changed in their relative positions by wind and frost, which would be fatal to the practical operation of taut cables, while a very considerable change would be required to affeet the successful operation of my improved system of loose cables.

The projecting arms C, pivoted upon the rear end of the gate-supports at B2, Fig. 10, are connected with the short ends of the gates by cables C. As the gates close from the position shown in Fig. 4, the lower ends of the gates rise and release the arms C, which are pushed out from the posts by springs C', secured to the posts, until they fall by gravity to the positions shown in Fig. 1, forming auxiliary gates to cut ofi' the approaches to the railway-track by the footpath or sidewalk.

The fourth gate, A3, is given its initial movement, and gates AAZ are overbalanced before the gate A completes its movement. Hence it is only necessary for the attendant to hold the first gate in position after its movement is completed in order to prevent any reversal by the wind and positively to hold the gates A A* in an unbalanced position until their combined gravity overcomes the resistance of the gate A and the usually intermittent wind. Two attendants may possibly be required in a gale or where th ere is an unusually-high Wind.

The cables may be arranged in various Ways, it being essential only that all the gatesof the system be connected with each other, the short end of each gate with the long end of some other gate, and that the cables should be provided With a slack, whereby the cables run loosely over the pulleys when not in use, and all the gates may be opened or closed by opening or closing any one.

In Figs. 1 and 4: I have shown the cables supported overhead on high posts; butin Figs. 3, i", and 15 I have shown them supported in subways. The general appearance and location of the conduits composing the subway are shown by dotted lines in Fig. 3 and by longitudinal section in Figs. 7 and 15. The posts are shorter, of course, and may have asnpport for the gate similar to that shown in Figs. 1 and lO, the short end of the gate being bifur cated, as shown in Fig. 1, tostraddle the posts, or the posts may be bifurcated, the two prongs F and G, Fig. 9, supporting the pivot At, upon which the gate A turns, the short end moving between the prongs. The upper ends of the posts are provided with pulley-blocks P2, for supporting the cables, the blocks being protected by a bell-shaped cover, H. One end ot' a cable is secured to one end of a gate, and the other end of the cable, after passing over one of the blocks P2, is taken down the vertical conduit G, Fig. 9, forming 'a part of the post, to a box provided with pulleys for taking the cables into a horizontal conduit, K, through which one or more of them may pass to the gates on the other side of the railway-track, or over certain other pulleys, L, Figs. 14 and l5, through the longitudinal conduit d, and from thence across the track. L is a fixed guide for keeping the slack cables within the grooves of the pulleys. The cables are connected with the gates, and the gates are operated in precisely the same manner as before described, in connection with the overhead ar rangement of cables. The conduits through which the cables pass in the subway system are provided at frequent intervals with the cross-bars e, crossing the conduit interiorly and at right angles to each other, by which the cables are separated from the bottom of the conduit, as shown in Fig. 8, and prevented from freezing together or to the walls of the conduit in case water or moisture accumulates therein.

I am aware that it is old to operate railwaygates by both superposed and subway cables; hence I do not desire tomake a broad claim to either system. I

'What I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

The combination, with the gates and con necting cables, of the latches having notches a', the posts having guides a2, the chain D, and the spring-stops E E, as and for the purpose specified.

In testimony whereof I havehereunto set my hand this 21st day of February, 1887.

LUCIAN M. FOSTER.

Witnesses:

GEO. A. Mosman, W. H. HoLLis'rER, J r.

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